Bowne RelationshipsTeachersLanguage 2017

Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students'
Vocabulary Growth in Kindergarten

Author(s): Jocelyn Bonnes Bowne, Hirokazu Yoshikawa and Catherine E. Snow
Source: Reading Research Quarterly, Vol. 52, No. 1, Explorations in Literacy
(January/February/March 2017), pp. 7-30
Published by: International Literacy Association and Wiley
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/26622576
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Relationships of Teachers' Language
and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction
to Students' Vocabulary Growth
in Kindergarten
ABSTRACT
Jocelyn Bonnes Bowne
Harvard Graduate School of Education, This study evaluates the relationships between aspects of Chilea
Cambridge, MA, USA explicit vocabulary instruction and students' vocabulary deve
kindergarten. Classroom videotapes of whole-class instruction g
ing a randomized experimental evaluation of a coaching-based p
Hirokazu Yoshikawa development program were analyzed. The amount of conceptual in
New York University, NY, USA about words made available during these discussions was the on
cant predictor of students' end-of-kindergarten vocabulary, wh
ling for the density and diversity of teachers' language and tim
Catherine E. Snow explicit vocabulary support, as well as child and teacher demogr
additional standard deviation of conceptual information about
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
vided predicted a 0.11 standard deviation increase in students'
Cambridge, MA, USA
outcomes. Practice and policy implications of these findings are d
larly for developing countries with a history of low literacy levels.

Improving
Years of researchliteracy rates ishaveanidentified
into literacy development important
a vari issue worldwide, particu
ety of experiences with spoken and written language in early child
hood that are critical for the development of later literacy skills
(Dickinson & Tabors, 2001; Reese, Sparks, & Leyva, 2010; Snow,
Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Children's vocabulary is a particularly
literacy-relevant aspect of language development due to its central
role in a child's ability to decode, for English-speaking children, and
comprehend text, for both English- and Spanish-speaking children
(Dickinson & Porche, 2011; Kim & Pallante, 2012; Lesaux, Kieffer,
Faller, & Kelley, 2010; National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, 2000). Many studies have also shown that this skill var
ies by socioeconomic status (SES). Class-based differences in chil
dren's vocabulary development surface as early as 2 years of age in the
United States and Latin America, and these differences widen over
the first years of life (Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder, 2013; B. Hart
& Risley, 1995; Schady, 2006).
Although the nature of parent-child interactions plays a central
role in children's language development (S.A. Hart et al„ 2009; Hoff,
2006; Huttenlocher, Vasilyeva, Cymerman, & Levine, 2002; Pan,
Rowe, Singer, & Snow, 2005; Schady, 2011), early school experiences
also predict immediate and later language and literacy outcomes in
Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1) both the United States and South America (Bowers & Vasilyeva, 2011;
pp. 7-29 j doi: 10.1002/rrq. 151
© 2016 International Literacy Association. Dickinson & Porche, 2011; Dickinson & Tabors, 2001; McCartney,
1984; Schady, 2006). As access to early childhood United States and Chile suggests that it is this depth of
education and attention to the quality of these pro vocabulary knowledge, not simply the breadth of vo
grams have been growing in low and middle income cabulary recognized, that supports story comprehen
countries, early childhood education programs have the sion in early childhood and reading comprehension in
potential to produce long-term positive impacts on chil the later elementary years (Proctor, Silverman, Harring,
dren's language and literacy development and attenuate & Montecillo, 2012; Strasser & del Rio, 2014). Children
differences resulting from home experiences. Yet, to re need repeated encounters with many words in a variety
alize this potential, it is essential to understand both of contexts to develop fuller understanding, something
how teachers naturally support early language develop parents often provide through their conversations with
ment and the instruction that follows targeted profes and around children. Studies in the United States and
sional development in the contexts where efforts at Latin America have found that children's language
quality improvement are undertaken. In this study, we development has a positive relationship to the richness
focus on Chile, a country transitioning from middle of caregivers' language and the extent to which adults
income to high income status based on World Bank engage children in interactive and responsive conver
definitions, where preschool education has been rapidly sations about interesting topics (Beals, 1997; Cristofaro
expanding in recent years. & Tamis-LeMonda, 2012; Dieterich, Assel, Swank,
Programs to support students' vocabulary in early Smith, & Landry, 2006; Hoff & Naigles, 2002;
childhood education classrooms have shown positive Huttenlocher et al„ 2002; Kotliarenco, Fuentes, &
impacts in both North and South American classrooms Mendez, 1990; Pan et al„ 2005; Schady, 2011; Weizman
(Beck & McKeown, 2007; Coyne, McCoach, & Kapp, & Snow, 2001).
2007; Justice, Meier, & Walpole, 2005; Neugebauer &
Currie-Rubin, 2009; Strasser, Larrain, & Lissi, 2013). Yet,
most of the existing studies focused on book-reading ac Support for Vocabulary
tivities. In Chile, limited classroom time is spent in book
Development in Early
reading (Facultad de Educacion Pontifica Universidad
Catolica de Chile, 2011; Herrera, Mathiesen, Merino, &
Childhood Education Classrooms
Recart, 2005; Mathiesen, Herrera, Villalon, & Suzuki, Early childhood education classrooms are an important
2000; Villalon, Suzuki, Herrera, & Mathiesen, 2002), context in which students can be actively engaged in
suggesting that teaching approaches reliant on the use of word learning, and teachers can provide language mod
books may not be eagerly adopted. If schools in this con els and be conversational partners to students, some
text are to positively impact young learners' vocabulary thing that may be important for children who receive
development, it is important to also understand the few such opportunities in the home. The total quantity
other types of instruction that show a relationship with and the density (number of words per minute) of words
children's language development. that preschool teachers use have both been shown, in
This study uses classroom videotape data collected North America and Europe, to predict dual-language
from both treatment and control classrooms as part of learners' vocabulary growth, and the number of sophis
an evaluation of the impacts of a teacher professional ticated words and the diversity of words have predicted
development program designed to improve the quality vocabulary growth for a variety of learners (Aukrust,
of early childhood education in Chile. We assess the re 2007; Bowers & Vasilyeva, 2011; Dickinson & Porche,
lationships between teachers' language and vocabulary 2011). Responsive conversations between young learn
instruction practices and students' vocabulary growth ers and teachers provide a rich context for the teachers
in kindergarten. to model dense, diverse, and sophisticated language
while eliciting language from the students (Bond &
Wasik, 2009).
Vocabulary Development Yet, such conversations can be rare in early child
hood classrooms, in both the United States and South
in Early Childhood America, and difficult to generate for teachers not used
Children's language learning relies on adult input and to this practice (Dickinson, Darrow, & Tinubu, 2008;
is shaped by the quantity and quality of this input Rolla San Francisco, Arias, & Villers, 2005). In general,
(Hoff, 2006). Although fast mapping can occur under it can be argued that changing teachers' language use is
well-defined circumstances, most word meanings are hard. Therefore, it is important to understand whether
learned incrementally through repeated exposure there is a relationship between the density and diversity
(Neuman, 2011). Deep understanding is only achieved of teachers' language and young students' vocabulary
when nuances of usage and multiple meanings of words development, before choosing to target this aspect of in
are mastered (Nagy & Scott, 2000). Evidence from the struction with professional development.
8 ! Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
Explicit Vocabulary supports understanding of related words (Nagy & Scott,
2000), words should be taught in coherent conceptual
Instructional Approaches groups rather than merely selected opportunistically
Although the amount of language heard is an impor from books being read (Neuman & Dwyer, 2011).
tant support for vocabulary growth, particularly when Instructional methods of this type that have been
young students are exposed to sophisticated words and shown to have positive impacts on learning of words
implicit information about word meaning, explicit in taught and general vocabulary include programs that
struction in words and their meanings has also proven select words central to the larger curriculum, use multi
effective. Recent evidence indicates that not all children
media (including photos, videos, nonfiction books, and
are able to learn from implicit teaching through expoteacher talk) to provide information about the meaning
sure, particularly very young children and those withof the words, and employ follow-up conversations and
limited vocabularies. Experimental studies in the activities (e.g., dramatic play) to support deep process
United States and Chile have shown that explicit in ing of the concepts taught (Gonzalez et al„ 2010;
struction in word meanings, where a word is identified Neuman, Newman, & Dwyer, 2011; Silverman & Hines,
and information about meaning or usage provided, is2009; Wasik & Hindman, 2012).
more effective in teaching words than exposure to the Activities of this sort can also be easily integrated
words in books alone (Coyne et al., 2007; Justice et al.,into instruction in many subjects and used to extend
2005; Penno, Wilkinson, & Moore, 2002; Strasser et al.,vocabulary instruction outside of book-reading con
2013). A meta-analysis of evaluations of explicit and im texts. Researchers have argued that subjects like science
plicit vocabulary instruction practices substantiated and mathematics are important contexts for vocabulary
these conclusions, as the interventions including ex development, as they provide exposure to many new
plicit vocabulary instruction showed larger effect sizes words and to old words with new definitions, and that
than those with only implicit approaches (i.e., those that precise subject-specific meanings can usefully be iden
provided in-context exposure to rich language use; tified during instruction (Peterson & French, 2008;
Marulis & Neuman, 2010). Moreover, a combination ofSarama, Lange, Clements, & Wolfe, 2012). These ap
explicit and implicit practices related to the largest proaches can play an important role in building young
mean effect size. students' comfort with the decontextualized and aca
As interest in explicit vocabulary instruction has demic language that is common in classroom discourse
grown, a variety of techniques usable in early childhood and texts, and will support their ability to access the
settings has been developed. The most common are incurriculum (Hiebert & Kamil, 2005; Nagy & Hiebert,
tegrated with book reading, in which words from a story 2011; Nagy & Townsend, 2012; Snow, 2010; Snow &
are identified and receive extended instruction. Often,Uccelli, 2009).
high-utility words or sophisticated words for familiar At the same time, none of the evaluations just dis
concepts are selected with a goal of accelerating the cussed has examined the nature of the information
word-learning process and increasing general vocabuabout words provided during instruction, nor have they
lary (Beck & McKeown, 2007; Biemiller & Slonim, 2001). considered the relative effectiveness of different types of
Approaches shown to be effective include elaboration of information. Word definitions can be helpful, as they
word meanings by connecting a word to personal expemake the meaning of a word explicit and can support
riences, comparing and contrasting words, connecting a the development of word consciousness, the under
word to a written representation of it, repeating a word, standing of words as objects distinct from the concepts
providing a simple definition, recognizing a word in an they represent, which can be studied and classified
other context, answering questions about a word, and(Nagy & Scott, 2000; Stahl, 2005). Definitions explicitly
constructing one's own examples of usage (Beck &connect the word form, either spoken or written, with
McKeown, 2007; Coyne et al., 2007; Silverman, 2007; an overview of the word meaning, supporting young
Strasser et al., 2013), as well as posing increasingly delearners in recognizing the word and beginning to un
manding questions about a word (Blewitt, Rump, Shealy, derstand its meaning. Yet, fully understanding a word
& Cook, 2009). Approaches in which more time is spent from a definition requires strong metalinguistic and
on such instruction and students are given more oppor metacognitive skills unlikely to be achieved by young
tunities to interact with and process word meaningschildren, leading to partial and often incorrect inter
have been found to be the most effective at supporting pretations (Nagy & Scott, 2000).
both learning of the words taught and growth in overall Models of usage are an important supplement to
receptive vocabulary (Coyne et al., 2007,2010; Silverman, definitions, as they help a child understand the prag
Crandell, & Carlis, 2013). matics of word use, as well as providing implicit infor
In contrast, others have argued that because wordsmation about the nuances of meaning (Nagy & Scott,
are interrelated and the understanding of one word 2000). Information about words' relationships with
Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students' Vocabulary Growth in Kindergarten | 9
each other, such as identifying antonyms and syn respond to the different types of information about
onyms, can help students embed word knowledge in a words provided during explicit instruction. Additionally,
network of vocabulary knowledge and further develop there are indications that the learning of young students
an understanding of the word's meaning (Blachowicz & with smaller vocabularies, including second-language
Fisher, 2000; Nagy & Hiebert, 2011; Nagy & Scott, learners, relates to the quantity of language teachers use,
2000). Together, these forms of declarative instruction whereas the learning of those with larger vocabularies is
about word meanings and usage can support students' supported by more diverse and sophisticated teacher
metalinguistic and pragmatic skills, that is, their un language (Aukrust, 2007; Bowers & Vasilyeva, 2011;
derstanding of a word as a distinct construct and their Dickinson & Porche, 2011).
ability to talk about, think about, and use particular We do not know whether these relationships hold in
words, which are all skills that are central to efficient Latin America. Given the large variation in vocabulary
vocabulary learning. size and growth trajectories that have been identified
At the same time, words represent concepts, and a within the United States and Latin American countries,
depth of understanding requires multiple opportunities and which are highly correlated with and predicted by
to explore the concepts referenced by each word and de SES (Fernald et al., 2013; B. Hart & Risley, 1995; Hoff,
velop networks of conceptual understandings that sup 2006; Rowe, Raudenbush, & Goldin-Meadow, 2012;
port deep word knowledge (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000; Schady, 2006, 2011), we seek vocabulary interventions
Nagy & Scott, 2000). Pictures of the relevant concepts, that are equally or more effective for students who start
information from nonfiction books and other forms of out behind. A few program evaluations, including one
multimedia, and discussions of concepts can all provide
in Chile, have considered variation in impacts of pro
important conceptual information about word meangrams including explicit vocabulary instruction, and
ings (Gonzalez et al., 2010; Neuman, 2011; Silvermansome, but not all, have found greater effects for students
et al., 2013; Silverman & Hines, 2009). Information with poorer vocabularies (Hamre et al., 2010; Hindman,
about word meanings provided in this fashion is not Erhart, & Wasik, 2012; Pallante & Kim, 2013). Therefore,
summarized to create a sense of the whole, as in a defi
it is important to better understand not just which types
nition. Instead, information is provided through exof classroom instruction are more effective in support
tended instruction focused on the concept thating vocabulary growth but also what works for whom.
cumulatively enriches the learner's understanding of
the concept and the related word.
For example, when learning about badgers, students
might be shown a picture of a badger; be read a book
Vocabulary Support in the
about badgers that includes information about where
Chilean Classroom Context
Explicit vocabulary instruction may be a particularly
they live, how they raise their offspring, and what they
eat; and then go to the zoo to see a badger. Similarities
important support in the Chilean context. In U.S. stud
and differences with other animals, such as skunks and ies of preschool classrooms, teacher-student interac
raccoons, might be discussed. Over time, the studentstions provided potential opportunities for teachers to
enrich their conceptual understanding of badgersmodel varied and sophisticated language while eliciting
through repeated encounters with the word and aspects students' participation. Although teacher language is
of its meaning. The word badger plays an important often not very complex and varied, free play, small
role as a label for the concept but is not in and of itselfgroups, and mealtimes have proven to be contexts in
the focus of instruction, as it would be when declarativewhich teachers in some preschool classrooms provide
information is provided. In determining the nature of more language support relative to other activities
explicit vocabulary instruction that should be used, it is (Dickinson, 2011; Dickinson et al., 2008; Gest, Holland
important to identify the roles that both declarative and
Coviello, Welsh, Eicher-Catt, & Gill, 2006; Tompkins,
conceptual information about words play in supporting Zucker, Justice, & Binici, 2013; Turnbull, Anthony,
young learners' vocabulary growth. Justice, & Bowles, 2009; Weisberg et al, 2015).
Additionally, it is important to understand how Although observational evidence from 12 Chilean
these different types of instruction support studentskindergarten classrooms suggests that more than half
with different levels of vocabulary knowledge. As alof the school day is spent in recess, meals, games, and
ready discussed, often it is the most able students who other noninstructional activities (i.e., without a clear
gain the most from exposure to rich language, whereas instructional intent), teacher-student interactions dur
students with smaller vocabularies tend to respond ing this time were most frequently focused on behavior
more to explicit vocabulary instruction (Coyne et al.,management (Strasser, Lissi, & Silva, 2009). Teacher
2007; Justice et al., 2005). Yet, we do not know if there student interactions in Chilean preschools were warm
are differences in the extent to which young students as coded on the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale, but
10 ! Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
tended to be adult directed, approaches that do not sup not provide strong support to young learners' language
port the types of interactive conversations seen in the development through book-reading activities.
United States (Mathiesen et al., 2000). As a result, it is Interventions to improve the nature of language and lit
unlikely that Chilean kindergarten teachers provide the eracy supports in the Latin American context, including
same level of support for language development as can a focus on dialogic reading, skill assessment, and literacy
be found in U.S. preschools during free-play activities instruction, have shown positive impacts on students' vo
and mealtimes. cabulary (Neugebauer & Currie-Rubin, 2009; Pallante &
As discussed, book reading provides a fertile opporKim, 2013; Rolla San Francisco, Arias, Villers, & Snow,
tunity for explicit vocabulary instruction, as a result of2006). However, all of these interventions combined a va
the sophisticated language introduced in many stories.riety of teaching approaches, and none detailed the rela
Although U.S. preschool teachers have been found to tionships between particular aspects of teaching and
use relatively richer language, ask more cognitivelystudent outcomes.
challenging questions, and use more decontextualized Instruction in other potentially language-rich top
language during book reading, there appears to be limics, such as science, social studies, and math, may also
ited and inconsistent explicit attention to vocabulary in provide important vocabulary support, but less is
both preschool and kindergarten classrooms (A1 Otaiba known about teachers' use of these activities in either
et al., 2008; Dickinson, Hofer, Barnes, & Grifenhagen,the United States or Chile. One study of 43 Head Start
2014; Gerde & Powell, 2009; Gest et al., 2006; Hindman, classrooms participating in an evaluation of two inter
Wasik, & Erhart, 2012; Massey, Pence, Justice, & Bowles,ventions targeting language and literacy skills found
2008). In one study of a socioeconomically diverse samthat teachers used more sophisticated words during
ple of 55 kindergartens, only eight episodes of vocabucontent-focused instruction than during book reading
lary instruction occurred per day, on average, and theseand provided similar amounts of conceptual informa
did not focus on sophisticated words (Wright &tion (Dickinson et al., 2014). Results from evaluations of
Neuman, 2014). Another statewide sample of 81 earlymath and science interventions in early childhood have
childhood classrooms saw less than 30 seconds focused shown impacts on oral language development and vo
on vocabulary during 20 minutes of language and liter cabulary knowledge, hypothesized to result from the at
acy instruction, on average (Pelatti, Piasta, Justice, &
tention paid in the curriculum to supporting students'
O'Connell, 2014). explanations of mathematical reasoning and explicit
The evidence from Chile suggests that both implicit instruction in science concepts (Hong & Diamond,
2012; Sarama et al., 2012).
and explicit language support during literacy activities is
rare. Observations of literacy activities in publicly However, such instruction is not common in the
funded prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms inUnited States. A study of kindergarten classrooms
Santiago (Facultad de Educacion Pontifica Universidadfound less than two minutes a day focused on science
Catolica de Chile, 2011) found that teachers elicited littletopics and less than one minute on social studies top
student talk beyond specific responses to closed-endedics, although rates of vocabulary instruction were rela
questions, and interactions occurred primarily during tively high during these activities, when they occurred
whole-class activities. Although the classrooms often(Wright & Neuman, 2014). In a sample of four Head
Start classrooms, teachers' efforts to provide inten
had books available, only about a third of the teachers
were observed reading to students, and conversations tional instruction or explanations during other activi
about the books tended to focus on low-inference dis ties, such as block building and dramatic play, tended
cussions of pictures or recall of events in the story.to be infrequent and, when it occurred, didactic and
Another study of language and literacy instructionfocused
in on fairly simple concepts (Dickinson et al.,
Santiago kindergartens found little intentional vocabu2008). Very little is known about the nature of content
focused instruction in Chile, although prior analyses
lary instruction, with the majority of instruction focused
of
on oral language interchanges (e.g., group discussions, the proposed sample have found that instruction fo
reviews of material) and the rest of the time devotedcused
to on math, science, and social studies concepts
composed about one quarter of whole-group instruc
code-focused reading and/or writing instruction
(Strasser et al., 2009). tion and was more likely to occur in the untrained
In general, access to books and literacy activities teachers' classrooms (Bowne, Yoshikawa, & Snow,
2016), suggesting an opportunity to understand the
tends to be fairly limited for children and adults in Chile;
in a recent survey, just over 50% of Chilean adults supports for language development provided through
content-focused instruction in Chile.
reported that they hardly ever or never read books, and
roughly 80% noted that books were very expensive In sum, the research to date has suggested that more
(Fundacion La Fuente & Adimark GFK, 2010). As dense
a and diverse teacher language and more concep
tual and declarative information provided during
result, the preschool and kindergarten classrooms may
Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students' Vocabulary Growth in Kindergarten 1 11
explicit vocabulary instruction across multiple instruc different aspects of teacher practice and young learners'
tional contexts may lead to greater language learning vocabulary development.
for students. Understanding which of these aspects of Analysis focused on whole-group instruction, the
instruction are the best supports for students' vocabu most typical context for explicit vocabulary instruction
lary growth, particularly for those with more limited (e.g., Penno et al., 2002; Silverman, 2007) and where
language skills, in a typical classroom in a Latin most instruction in these classrooms occurred. A recent
American context is useful for determining the best review of the same data found that there was very little
methods to target in teacher training programs. Given free play and no differentiated center time in the class
the limited attention to literacy activities that children rooms (Bowne et al., 2016). When students were not in
are likely to encounter in both home and school, this whole groups, they were out of the classroom, eating,
knowledge is particularly important in identifying ways transitioning, or working on individual worksheets,
to effectively prepare young learners for school success. and few teacher-student conversations occurred during
these times. This corresponds with other data from
Chilean classrooms that suggest interactions during
non-whole-group times tend to focus on behavior man
The Current Study agement rather than teacher-student conversations
This study uses kindergarten classroom videotape data (Facultad de Educacion Pontifica Universidad Catolica
collected in Santiago, Chile, to address questions about de Chile, 2011; Strasser et al., 2009).
the relationships between teacher language and vocabu Three research questions are addressed:
lary instruction strategies and students' vocabulary
1. What were the relationships between the differ
growth. This sample of classrooms was part of a ran
ent types of explicit vocabulary instruction used
domized experimental evaluation of a coaching-based
by Chilean kindergarten teachers and students'
professional development program that included train
end-of-kindergarten vocabulary?
ing in providing explicit vocabulary instruction during
book reading. Although this intervention did not show 2. What were the relationships between the den
impacts on students' vocabulary growth, previous analy sity and diversity of teachers' language during
ses of these classrooms found that trained teachers were whole-group instruction in Chilean kindergarten
more likely to devote time to literacy activities, particu classrooms and students' end-of-kindergarten
larly book reading, and when literacy instruction was vocabulary?
provided, it lasted 13 minutes more, on average, with a 3. Did the associations between teacher predictors
corresponding increase in explicit vocabulary instruc and students' vocabulary growth vary by stu
tion during these activities (Bowne et al„ 2016; dents' baseline vocabulary ability?
Yoshikawa et al., 2015).
An analysis of teacher questioning during book
reading activities found that the extent to which teach
ers scaffolded students' language skills by moving Methods
between inferential and literal questions in response to
the level of the students' replies positively related to stu Sites
dents' vocabulary (Mascareno, Deunk, Snow, & Bosker, Classroom videotapes analyzed for this study were
in press), evidence of effective book discussion practices drawn from 47 kindergarten classrooms in 29 schools
not typical in Chile. At the same time, the Un Buen across two municipalities in Santiago, Chile, which par
Comienzo (A Good Start) professional development ticipated in the second cohort of a larger evaluation of a
program showed a negative impact on the amount of teacher training intervention (Un Buen Comienzo) de
conceptual information provided. These differences signed to improve the quality of early childhood educa
seemed to relate to the finding that training led to fewer tion in this country (Yoshikawa et al„ 2015).
instances of concept-focused instructional episodes and Municipalities in the metropolitan area containing
to spending less time in such instruction. As a result, eight or more schools with prekindergarten and kinder
the concept-focused instruction seen in this sample is garten classrooms were eligible for the study if 20% or
likely representative of Chilean teachers' default teach more of their students were considered at risk, as deter
ing methods. Because the classrooms of both trained mined by the Chilean national household risk indicator
and untrained teachers were analyzed, this sample may (incorporating parent income and education and used
therefore include a broader range of practices, likely in to qualify households for receipt of public assistance).
cluding more literacy activities, than an untrained Classrooms included in the analysis being reported
Chilean sample. As a result, we have a particularly good were drawn from both the treatment group schools,
opportunity to understand the relationship between which received a full complement of Un Buen Comienzo
12 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
training activities over two years, including training in Although it was impossible to distinguish which
using explicit vocabulary instruction during story read teacher was providing instruction during classroom
ing, and the control group schools, which received only videotapes, one teacher provided the majority of in
books and a self-care workshop. All classrooms, 24 struction in most cases, presumably the educadora.
treatment and 23 comparison, from the second cohort However, all instruction was coded, regardless of who
of schools were analyzed, as the program had had a year provided it.
to mature and teachers had received the full two years
of training at the time of these observations. Procedures
Data Collection
Participants Teachers were surveyed when they entered the study
Students entered the evaluation in prekindergarten and about their age, education, and teaching experience.
were followed through kindergarten. This analysis used Demographic information about parents and children
data from 691 students of the 848 who composed the was drawn from parent surveys collected at the end of
second cohort of the evaluation and for whom outcome prekindergarten (considered baseline for this analysis).
Kindergarten classrooms were videotaped at the end of
data were available. Forty-nine percent of these students
were male, and the full group ranged in age from 57 tothe student participants' kindergarten year (after teach
88 months at the end of kindergarten (mean = 71.54 ers had completed two years of training in the treatment
months, standard deviation (SD) = 3.76 months). The group). Visits were scheduled in advance, and a full day
mothers of 18% of the children reported completing of instruction was captured by one camera running con
only a middle school education or less (basico), 53% re tinuously throughout the day (on average, 3.88 hours of
ported at least some high school education (ensehanzainstruction, ranging from 3.07 to 4.73 hours). One full
media), and 10% reported completing some higher edu day of school was videotaped to capture a relatively com
cation (universidad or estudios tecnicos)-, 18% of theprehensive sample of teachers' instruction. The nature of
mothers did not provide information about their educa teacher-student interactions tends to change depending
tion levels. The parents of 49% of the children reportedon instructional context, and we wanted to capture as
reading to their child at least once a week, and the par broad a range as possible. Prior research has suggested
ents of 26% of the children reported reading to their that although some dimensions of teacher practice vary
child once or twice a month or less; 25% did not providefrom day to day (e.g., informal efforts to clarify complex
information on home reading practices. vocabulary), many others are fairly stable across multi
All but three classrooms documented at least one ple observations, such as classroom management ap
qualified teacher (educadora) on the teaching team, and proaches and meaning- and code-focused literacy
all but eight also included an assistant teacher (tecnica).instruction (A1 Otaiba et al., 2008; Pianta, 2006).
When the mean age of the teaching team was calculatedAlthough observing the classroom during only one day
for each classroom, the average of classroom means wasmay make our estimates of the amount of unplanned
vocabulary instruction less precise than with multiple
43 years, ranging from 24 to 59. The mean ages for edu
cadoras and tecnicas were similar (45 and 40 years, days
re of observation, many of the activities that we are
coding, such as book-reading approaches, are likely to
spectively), although the tecnicas were slightly younger;
the youngest tecnica was 20, and the youngest educa be fairly stable, and we would not expect the lower inci
dora was 28. When education levels were calculated for dence interactions that we might miss to show signifi
each teaching team, two thirds of each classroom's cant relationships with young learners' development.
teachers, on average, had completed some university, Following the procedures of other studies of teacher
with 90% of the educadoras having done so. Of those explicit vocabulary instruction (e.g., Silverman &
without university attendance, all but three teachers re Crandell, 2010), analysis of the videotapes focused on
ported completing some education training (estudios whole-group instructional episodes but were not lim
tecnicos). When the combined experience within teachited to a particular type of instruction (i.e., book
ing teams was calculated from reports on a rating scale reading episodes). All episodes of whole-group
ranging from 1 (no prior experience) to 7 (more than 15 instruction that occurred during this time were identi
years), the modal experience of most teams fell between fied and clipped from each videotape. Each whole-class
6 and 10 years, with 40% reporting more than 10 years instructional episode was transcribed by a native
and only 6% reporting less than five years, collectively. Chilean Spanish speaker. The first author reviewed ev
When educadoras only were considered, the modal level ery transcript while watching the videotape and cor
of experience was 11-15 years, with 41% reporting more rected any errors. Transcriptions were formatted using
than 15 years and only 4% reporting less than 4 years.the CHAT (Codes for the Human Analysis of
One classroom was missing all teacher information. Transcripts) transcription format, and each utterance
was identified as being uttered by a teacher, student, or vocabulary instruction, total vocabulary time. The gem
group of students (MacWhinney, 2000). Because whole codes were used to create a count of the number of dif
group instructional episodes were often videotaped ferent words targeted in each classroom videotape,
from the back of the class, it was impossible to match number words.
utterances to individual students; all student utterances
were treated as one category. Coding the Nature of Vocabulary Instruction
After vocabulary episodes were identified, Bowne devel
oped a set of codes to identify the nature and quantity of
Videotape Coding new information provided about each word. Codes were
Identifying Explicit Vocabulary Instruction Episodes developed through an iterative process that began with
A coding system was developed by Bowne (first author) descriptive, utterance-level codes of a sample of four
to identify episodes of explicit vocabulary instruction. transcripts (intentionally selected to represent class
She coded all of the videotapes. First, for an episode of rooms with vocabulary instruction occurring in differ
instruction to qualify as vocabulary instruction, teachers ent instructional contexts). A review of the literature on
needed to both draw students' attention to a particular the nature of vocabulary learning highlighted four im
word and provide some information about the meaning portant aspects of word meaning that could also be
of the word. This definition followed from studies high found in the transcripts coded: (a) information about
lighting the importance for students of both developing a the full meaning of the word, as typically provided in a
representation of the word being defined and connecting formal definition; (b) intentional efforts to demonstrate
this representation to information about the meaning how the word can be used (e.g., "I was disappointed
and usage of the word (Nagy, 2005; Stahl & Stahl, 2004). when I could not have candy. Can you tell me an exam
Examples included repeating a word frequently (three or ple of a time when you were disappointed?"): (c) con
more times) while talking about its meaning, sharing in crete information about the meaning of the word, as
formation about a concept, and then pausing and letting provided by showing an object or a picture, or acting out
students fill in the name of the concept, or asking stu the word; and (d) information, such as facts, about the
dents directly what a particular word meant. concept or an example of the concept, as well as infor
Episodes began when teachers introduced the tar mation about what is not part of the concept (e.g., "This
get concept, and ended when the teacher moved to a butterfly is a monarch butterfly (example). No, it's not a
new topic. If teachers returned to a word already dis moth (not part of the concept). It flies in the daytime
cussed and provided additional instruction, regardless (information)"; see Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000; Nagy &
of whether the teacher explicitly drew attention to the Scott, 2000).
word, another episode of vocabulary instruction was Information about a concept was distinguished
deemed to have started. These episodes were marked in from definitions by the completeness of the informa
the transcripts using a gem code in the CHAT tran tion provided. Definitions were coded when a teacher
scription format (MacWhinney, 2000) that identified attempted to provide an overview of a word's meaning
the target word and linked the transcript to the rele in one utterance (e.g., "A cube has six sides, and all sides
vant video segment. To evaluate the reliability of this are squares"), and information was coded when teach
identification system, a native Chilean Spanish speaker ers provided one piece of information about the concept
was trained in the coding procedure, and five tran but did not attempt to summarize all relevant aspects
scripts (11% of the total sample) were coded by that (e.g., "Here is a cube. How many sides do you see? That's
person and Bowne. Substantial inter-rater reliability right, 6"). See Appendix A for an example of codes as
(Landis & Koch, 1977) was achieved for the identifica sociated with text.
tion of vocabulary episodes (kappas ranged between .7 Coding was done at the utterance level. Codes de
and .9). The double coding occurred across the time tailing the type of new information provided were asso
when Bowne was coding all of the studies. Tapes for ciated with each utterance, and both teacher and student
double coding were randomly selected from the sample utterances were coded in this way. The accuracy of the
at the beginning of the coding process and double information was not coded because inaccurate informa
coded one at a time. Bowne and a second coder inde tion was rare. Each code could only be used once per
pendently coded each videotape and then discussed the utterance, but multiple types of information could be as
codes. Disagreements were resolved with consensus. sociated with one utterance (i.e„ a picture of a concept
This system provided a mechanism to understand the and information about the concept could be presented
extent to which the codes could be used reliably; the simultaneously). Given that some utterances contained
second coder's codes were not used for the analysis. more types of information than others, utterances could
Variables were derived from the start and end time receive multiple codes (up to eight codes were available,
of each episode to quantify the total time spent in but it was rare for an utterance to receive more than two)
14 I Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
or, as frequently happened, no codes at all. Counts of rather than categorical codes, intraclass correlations
each code were then summed for each vocabulary across episodes were used to calculate reliability. The in
instruction episode to give a measure of the number of traclass correlation between raters across the four tran
utterances providing each type of new information at scripts for the amount of conceptual information ranged
the episode level. Because gem codes were used to iden from .62 to .97, and correlation for the amount of
tify the target word for each episode, the total quantity declarative information was .98 (in two transcripts, no
of each different type of information could also be cal instances of declarative information were coded by ei
culated for each target word, even if information was ther coder). However, only Bowne's codes were used in
provided across multiple vocabulary episodes. this analysis.
After all transcripts were coded, codes were com
bined into more comprehensive categories (see Table 1). Measures
Counts of instances of definitions and examples of usage
Child-Level Outcomes
were combined to identify instances of declarative infor
mation about words. Counts of instances of pictures, Students were tested with the Woodcock-Munoz
Language Survey-Revised picture vocabulary subtest
actions, objects, verbal examples, new facts, and infor
mation about what is not true about a word were com (the Spanish form; Woodcock, Munoz-Sandoval, Ruef,
& Alvarado, 2005) at the end of prekindergarten and
bined to identify instances when conceptual information
was provided about word meanings. Inter-rater reliabilkindergarten. Students were shown pictures, given a
ity for the codes used in the following analyses was word, and asked to either point to the corresponding
picture or name the picture. Although this assessment
tested on a new set of four randomly selected transcripts
includes some items measuring receptive vocabulary, it
(just under 10% of the sample) with the trained, native
Spanish-speaking Chilean coder, following the proce is largely a measure of expressive vocabulary. The
Spanish version of the test was calibrated to the English
dure described previously. Given that the codes were ag
version (Woodcock-Johnson) using Spanish-speaking
gregated to create a sum for each episode of vocabulary
instruction, thereby resulting in a set of continuous samples from across South and Central Americas and
TABLE 1
Names and Definitions of Variables Coded to Describe the Nature of Explicit Vocabulary Instruction and Teacher
and Student Language
Variable coded Definition
Total vocabulary time The total number of minutes spent in each cla
school
Number of words The total number of words targeted for vocabulary instruction in each classroom during one day of
instruction
Conceptual information about The count of all new references to information provided by the teacher or students about the
meaning meaning of the target concept, including concrete examples such as actions, objects and pictures,
facts, and information about what was not true about a concept
Conceptual information about The count of all new references to information provided by the teacher about the meaning of
meaning—teacher the target concept, including concrete examples such as actions, objects and pictures, facts, and
information about what was not true about a concept
Conceptual information about The count of all new references provided by students to information about the meaning of the
meaning—students target concept, including concrete examples such as actions, objects and pictures, facts, and
information about what was not true about a concept
Declarative information The count of all new references to word definitions or examples of the usage of a particular word
Word density—teacher The number of tokens, on average, spoken per minute of whole-group instruction by the teacher
during one full day of school
Word diversity—teacher The number of types, on average, spoken per minute of whole-group instruction by the teacher
during one full day of school
Word density—students The number of tokens per minute, on average, spoken by all students in each classroom during
whole-group instruction (calculated at the classroom level, not the individual student level,
because it was often impossible to distinguish which student was speaking)
Word diversity—students The number of types per minute, on average, spoken by the students during whole-group
instruction in each classroom (also calculated at the classroom level)
the United States (Woodcock et al., 2005). The internal Classroom-Level Control Variables
consistency reliability of the English version of the pic Characteristics of the classroom and the teacher that
ture vocabulary test was found to be .90. Raw scores were likely to relate to students' end-of-kindergarten
from assessment at the end of prekindergarten were vocabulary were included as controls. Given that chil
standardized with sample means and standard devia dren's use of language is an important way in which
tions and used as a covariate, and those from the end of
they develop mastery of vocabulary (Cristofaro &
kindergarten were treated similarly and used as the Tamis-LeMonda, 2012), we calculated the number of
dependent variable in the analyses that follow. words per minute (word density—students) and the
number of different words per minute (word diversity—
Child-Level Control Variables students) that were produced by any student during
Child-level variables that were likely to relate whole-group
to stu instruction in each classroom, following
the as
dents' end-of-kindergarten vocabulary were included same procedures as with teacher language. When
controls. Students' Woodcock-Munoz vocabulary subthese variables did not show significant relation
tested,
test scores from the end of prekindergarten were
ships with end-of-kindergarten vocabulary and so were
included. Dichotomous variables were created to indi not included in most analyses (analyses that included
them report this explicitly).
cate mothers who reported reading at least once a week
to their child and those who reported less than a high Information about teacher education and experi
school education. Finally, we also included a dichotoence was also available and could potentially shape
mous variable for gender (female as the referenceteaching
cate practices and student outcomes, although no
work
gory). We tested the relationship between age at entry to has been done in Chile to identify such relation
kindergarten and end-of-kindergarten vocabularyships. but Teachers worked in teams of two or three in these
did not find a significant relationship when also classrooms,
con so we tested aggregates of education and
trolling for end-of-prekindergarten vocabulary, so experience
we for the teaching team and for each individ
did not include this control in our final models. ual teacher. All teachers had completed high school, so
we created dichotomous variables that indicated
Classroom-Level Predictors whether they had completed some university (of those
who
Teacher language use was calculated from the had not, all but three reported some education
tran
training: estudios tecnicos). We also created ordinal
scripts using the FREQ procedure available in the
CLAN program (MacWhinney, 2000). Counts ofvariables the indicating the modal experience range re
total number of words and the number of different ported by the teaching team and the range of experi
words used by the teacher during whole-group instruc
ence reported by the educadora (head teacher). When
tion were divided by the number of minutes of whole these variables were entered together into our models,
we
group instruction to create variables quantifying the found that only the educadora s level of experience
predicted
density and diversity of teacher and student language students' end-of-kindergarten vocabulary, so
we include only this control in our final models.
during whole-group time for use in analysis (see Table 1
for a full list of analysis variables). Only spontaneous
teacher utterances were coded, not texts read aloud, School-Level Control Variables
songs, poems, or other reenvoiced utterances.
In this study, classrooms were clustered within schools,
The nature of the teachers' explicit vocabulary inwhich were then clustered within municipalities (comu
struction was captured in variables reflecting the total
nas). The classrooms included in this analysis were
amount of such instruction and the quantity and type drawn from both the treatment and the control condi
of information about target words discussed during
tions in a larger experimental evaluation of a coaching
such instruction. As described previously, the totalbased professional development model. To control for
minutes spent in explicit vocabulary instruction, total
any differences by municipality or experimental condi
vocabulary time, and the total number of target words,
tion, we included dichotomous variables, one indicating
number words, across a day of instruction were calcu
within which of the two municipalities schools were lo
lated. The amount of conceptual information and de
cated and the second indicating whether the classroom
clarative information about target words was calculated
was in the treatment group.
from the counts of different types of new information
presented during all explicit vocabulary instruction
occurring in a day of school for each classroom. The Analytic Approach
amount of conceptual information was also disaggreIn this study, students were nested within classrooms,
gated into information presented by students and inforwhich were nested within schools. Three-level hierar
mation presented by the teacher. chical linear models were used, as preliminary analyses
16 i Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)
suggested nonzero intraclass correlations at both class scores were used due to the greater precision they pro
room and school levels. Hierarchical linear models vided for the analysis; other analyses found that the stu
account for the nesting of observations within the dents
same in the Un Buen Comienzo (2014) sample were at or
cluster and reduce bias in the calculation of parameter
above expected scores for their age based on test norms.
estimates (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). In these analyOn average, this was a growth in vocabulary of 5 points
ses, we used the xtmixed procedure in Stataover 12 the kindergarten year, corresponding to approxi
mately a standard deviation in the distribution of raw
(StataCorp, 2011). Finally, we used variables standard
ized with the sample means and standard deviationsvocabulary
in scores in this sample.
our analyses, although we share raw variables in the de
scriptive reports. Classroom Time Use
Classroom-level variables representing the total
The Chilean kindergarten classrooms in this sample
amount of explicit vocabulary instruction, the amount
were generally organized around teacher-directed ac
of new declarative information, new conceptual infor tivities. When students were not out of the room, eat
mation (research question 1), and teacher word density
ing, or transitioning from one activity to another, they
and diversity (research question 2) were entered into a
were either working individually (most often on work
set of multilevel regression models predicting students'
sheets) or engaged as an entire class in a teacher-led
end-of-kindergarten vocabulary (see Table 1 for more
whole-group activity. An hour of the day, on average
information). Interactions between school-level vari
(mean = 66.07 minutes, SD = 20.80 minutes, range =
ables of teacher instructional characteristics and the
25.47-125.33 minutes), was spent in these whole-group
child-level variable of end-of-prekindergarten vocabu
activities. A little over half of this whole-group time, on
lary were also tested together and separately to identify
average, was spent on direct instruction (mean = 36.18
differences in relationships between instructional
minutes, SD = 17.15 minutes, range = 4.35-74.30 min
characteristics and end-of-kindergarten vocabulary for
utes) in literacy, math, science, and social studies (ex
students beginning kindergarten with different levels
amples of a topic in each respectively included letters,
of vocabulary knowledge (research question 3). We in
geometric shapes, seeds and plants, and the rights of
cluded child-, classroom-, and school-level variables in
children).
all of these models, as discussed previously, to control
The first panel in Table 2 shows the amount of vo
for characteristics of students, teachers, and schools
cabulary instruction provided, as measured by total
that might relate to students' vocabulary skills. time and number of words. Teachers spent, on average,
Twenty percent of the students were missing 16.10 minutes (SD = 9.75 minutes) during whole-group
Woodcock-Munoz scores, either from the end of pre
instruction providing explicit information about 25.37
kindergarten or the end of kindergarten, generally as words
a (SD = 13.00 words), although teachers varied
result of absences. Additionally, information on parent
widely in the extent of this instruction, ranging from
education and home reading practices was missing for 0.26 to 41.48 minutes of instruction on three to 55
21% and 28% of students, respectively. Information words on (see Table 1). Panel 2 of Table 2 shows the nature
the educadora s experience in three classrooms was alsoof the information provided during vocabulary instruc
missing. We used multiple imputation with an iterativetion. A mean of 79.98 instances of new conceptual in
Markov chain Monte Carlo method (Little & Rubin,
formation about words was coded per classroom (SD =
2002), generating 25 data sets for analysis. Because of 53.58 instances, range = 3-198 instances), a rate of 5.32
the large percentage of students missing outcome data,statements a minute during vocabulary instruction, on
we dropped these students from the analysis but im average. In contrast, only 5.40 instances, on average, of
puted all other missing data. declarative information about words occurred (SD =
6.26 instances, range = 1-23 instances) during vocabu
lary instruction in the 25 classrooms where any such
Results information was provided, a rate of 0.33 statements a
minute (22 teachers, or 48% of teachers, did not provide
Descriptive Data such information). Panel 3 of Table 2 shows the amount
Student Language of conceptual information contributed by students and
Students' raw vocabulary scores at the end of prekinderby teachers. Teachers provided, on average, more con
ceptual information about the targeted concepts than
garten ranged from six correct responses on the
Woodcock-Munoz Spanish vocabulary subtest (seethe students, but students contributed a substantial
amount as well (and in one classroom provided the only
Table 2, panel 5) to 36 correct responses (mean = 22.07,
instances of conceptual information). In many of these
SD = 5.09). At the end of kindergarten, the scores ranged
classrooms, teachers encouraged students to actively
from 12 to 40 correct (mean = 27.08, SD = 5.16). Raw
TABLE 2
Descriptive Information About the Nature of Vocabulary Instruction and Student and Teacher Language (n = 29
schools, 47 classes, 691 students)
Standard
N Mean deviation Minimum Maximum
Amount of vocabulary instruction
Total vocabulary time (minutes) 47 16.10 9.75 0.26 41.48
Number of words targeted 47 25.37 13.00 3.00 55.00
Nature of vocabulary instruction
Conceptual information
Counts 47 79.98 53.58 3.00 198.00
Rate per minute 47 5.32 1.75 1.27 11.62
Declarative information
Counts 25 5.40 6.26 1.00 23.00
Rate per minute 25 0.33 0.32 0.02 1.08
Teacher and student contributions
Conceptual information—teacher 47 49.15 32.23 0.00 126.00
Conceptual information—students 47 30.83 25.12 3.00 96.00
Teacher language
Word density (tokens/minute)—teacher 47 63.12 12.20 27.54 84.23
Word diversity (types/minute)—teacher 47 12.28 2.25 5.76 18.70
Student language
Word density (tokens/minute)—students 47 14.04 3.76 6.00 22.56
Word diversity (types/minute)—students 47 4.08 1.03 2.21 6.52
End of prekindergarten vocabulary 664 22.07 5.09 6.00 36.00
End of kindergarten vocabulary 691 27.08 5.16 12.00 40.00
Note. Information about the nature of vocabulary instruction was calculated only from classrooms that included the relevant type of instruction. Ns d
not always reflect the total sample.
being
join in the discussion, often pausing to let them fill in taught, such as the names of shapes or the catego
ries of mammals, birds, and fish. Teachers also tended
key pieces of information or asking questions about the
nature of particular concepts. to organize information in taxonomies. When different
When the nature of the vocabulary instruction typesdur of animals were discussed, for example, categories
ing these different types of activities was considered such
in as mammals and birds were introduced with in
another study, much of the vocabulary support, partic formation about the characteristics of these categories
ularly the provision of conceptual information,and oc examples of each category. Similarly, geometric
curred during instruction in math, science, and social shapes were discussed with careful attention to the
studies topics, rather than during story reading (Bownecharacteristics that defined each shape and clear infor
mation about the characteristic (e.g., identifying a tri
et al., 2016). Observation of these episodes showed that
angle as having three angles; identifying an angle as a
teachers often held interactive lectures on various topics
with students, during which teachers presented infor place where two lines come together in a point, while
mation (often with supporting pictures or objects) pointing to the point of a triangle).
about mathematical concepts, such as geometric shapesStudents were often encouraged to join in and either
or sets of numbers, or science or social studies topics,
share relevant information that they already knew or
make use of information that they had just learned.
such as different types of animals or the rights of chil
dren. Words were emphasized as labels for the concepts Books were not typically used during these activities
TABLE 3
Correlations Between Aspects of Vocabulary Instruction and Teacher and Student Language (n = 29 schools,
47 classes, 691 students)
Variable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1. Total time of vocabulary instruction —
2. Number of words .57" —
3. Total.81" .74"
conceptual —
info
4. Total declarative information .IT -.04 -.05 —
5. .75"
Total .63" .91" -.07
conceptual —
inf
6. Total
.76"' conceptual
.74" .95" -.03 .74" —
inf
7. .24
Teacher
.11 .30' .02
word.20 .34" —
density
8. -.18
Teacher -.18word
-.11 -.04 -.15 -.06 .62"
diversity —
9. -.09
Student -.10 .07 -.20 .19
word -.03 -.17 -.02 densit
—
10. -.18
Student-.22 -.08 -.04 .05 -.17 -.11 .34'
word .77™
—
'p< .10. *p< .05. "*p < .00
(although r pictures
= .62). Pa
enced), nor
classdid stor
collec
at
necessarily 14.04
relate to
t
instruction. In
minute cont
(SD
providedguage
at a some
dens
tivities theinstanc
(5.4 amoun
episodes took
(r = place
.30), a
that provided this
suggested Researc
by Un Bue
identified
Relatio
a word fr
and then discussed e
In the current ana
of Expl
ferent and of
types Stuvo
showed Table
that, 4
not dis
su
the ships
quantity ofbetw
vo
number by words)
of teacher
mation lary. highl
were Predi
from .57tered
to as
.81). a
Th
lary (models
instruction 1-
tim
providedeach
was analys
also p
cant (r = .27). Finally
of Quantity
conceptual inf
(r = .74). The
Classroom
total n
quantities of
cant conce
relati
cepts (see
tended Table
to also
such information.
vocabulary
tionship w
Density and
Table 4, Div
mo
and Student La
As shownQuantity
in panel
average,and Declarative
63.12 Information toke
and 12.28
The amounttypes per
of conceptual information provided about
languagethe meaning
densityof the targeted word concepts showed
an a
positively correla
positive and significant relationship with students'
Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students' Vocabulary Growth in Kindergart
TABLE 4
Parameter Estimates (and Standard Errors) From a Series of Hierarchical Linear Models Predicting End-of
Kindergarten Vocabulary With Various Vocabulary Instruction Strategies (n = 29 schools, 47 classes, 691 students)
Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4 Model 5
Total time of vocabulary instruction -0.013 -0.055 -0.074' -0.065
(0.030) (0.050) (0.044) (0.045)
Number of words 0.057' 0.023
(0.034) (0.040)
Total declarative information -0.022
(0.032)
Total conceptual information 0.086 0.110'
(0.061) (0.049)
Total conceptual information—teacher 0.008
(0.057)
Total conceptual information—students 0.094'
(0.047)
Word density—teacher 0.043 0.027 0.036
(0.029) (0.030) (0.031)
Word diversity—teacher -0.021
(0.023)
Word density—students 0.063
(0.052)
Word diversity—students -0.069
(0.053)
End-of-prekindergarten vocabulary 0.715'" 0.712"' 0.717'" 0.717" 0.716'"
(0.027) (0.027) (0.028) (0.027) (0.027)
Comuna (municipality) 0.092 0.069 0.099' 0.079 0.071
(0.058) (0.061) (0.057) (0.057) (0.059)
Intervention -0.072 -0.026 -0.072 -0.027 -0.039
(0.053) (0.058) (0.053) (0.057) (0.058)
Male 0.071 0.073 0.073 0.073 0.080
(0.051) (0.051) (0.051) (0.051) (0.051)
Mother's education—percentage < high -0.158" -0.149" -0.136' -0.136' -0.135'

school
(0.058) (0.058) (0.059) (0.059) (0.059)
Home reading—once/week+ 0.104' 0.105' 0.102 0.105' 0.109'
(0.062) (0.061) (0.063) (0.061) (0.062)
Educadora (qualified teacher) experience

0.084 " 0.088"' 0.070' 0.074" 0.072"
(0.025) (0.025) (0.027) (0.027) (0.028)
'p < .10. *p < .05. "p < .01. "'p < .001.
vocabulary when controlling for the total amount of vo one of the first studies to detail the nature of vocabulary
cabulary instruction and for teacher language (model 4: instruction in Chilean kindergartens (including in
(3 = 0.11, p < .05). The amount of declarative informa struction in topics other than literacy) and to attempt to
tion (model 2), in contrast, showed no significant rela disentangle relationships between the density and di
tionship with students' vocabulary. versity of teachers' language and the provision of declar
ative and conceptual information about word meanings
Student Contributions and students' vocabulary. These findings are important
for understanding the nature of instruction in Chilean
of Conceptual Information
kindergartens. Second, the findings are specific enough
In our analysis of these kindergarten classrooms,about
we the nature of effective vocabulary supports that
noticed that students provided about 40% of the they
con can to be used to develop recommendations for im
ceptual information during classroom discussionsproving
(see instructional practices in Chilean kindergar
Table 2). Although the amount of such information
tens. This is the first study in the United States or Chile
shared by students was highly correlated with the
to disentangle the contribution of different types of in
amount shared by teachers (r = .74), limiting the extent
formation about words to young learners' vocabulary
to which we can understand their independent contri development. Additionally, the approaches sampled
bution to students' vocabulary development, we ran an from a variety of instructional activities, not just
came
exploratory analysis modeling these contributionsbook sep reading, and are particularly relevant for contexts,
arately (see Table 4, model 5). To ensure that anysuchrela as Chile, in which book reading is not as frequently
tionship between student contributions and student used as in the United States (Strasser & Lissi, 2009).
outcomes was not driven by student language abilities The provision of conceptual information about
or talkativeness, we included controls for the density
word meanings was significantly associated with
and diversity of students' language. Conceptual inforgrowth in students' vocabulary development. For each
mation provided by the students at the classroom level
standard deviation increase in information provided
showed a significant positive relationship with vocabu
(roughly 50 pieces of information across a day of in
lary growth ((3 = 0.09, p < .05), whereas the amount struction),
pro students' vocabulary scores were a tenth of a
vided by the teacher showed a very small, nonsignificant
standard deviation higher at the end of kindergarten
relationship ((3 = 0.01). than would have been predicted by their end-of
prekindergarten scores. Given that teachers provided
Research Question 2: Relationships
five pieces of information per minute of vocabulary in
Between Teacher Language and struction, on average, adding two 10-minute sessions of
Students' Vocabulary Growth dense, concept-focused discussion a day could result in
significant differences in vocabulary scores (a poten
As seen in Table 4 (models 3 and 4), neither teacher di
tially important effect size of about .20). In this context,
versity (types per minute) nor density (tokens per min
where students showed growth equal to about a stan
ute) showed a significant relationship with students'
dard deviation of the raw vocabulary scores in this sam
vocabulary.
ple over the course of the kindergarten year, attending
such a highly supportive classroom would be compara
Research Question 3: Differences ble to just over two additional months of typical devel
by Baseline Vocabulary Ability opment. Importantly, these differences were found for
When interactions between prekindergarten vocabu children at all levels of vocabulary knowledge prior to
lary and total vocabulary time, quantity of conceptual kindergarten entry, suggesting that these techniques
information, and the density of teacher language were would not exacerbate existing gaps in vocabulary
tested, all the interaction terms were nonsignificant (re knowledge.
sults are available from the authors). The small advantages in vocabulary growth seen in
students in conceptually rich classrooms could be par
ticularly significant for students from families of low
SES. Data from the United States suggest that the vo
Discussion cabulary of children from low-income families falls, on
average,
The intent of this study was to understand the nature of a standard deviation below national norms (see
Chilean kindergarten teachers' vocabulary instruction et al., 2011). Although similar information is not
Hulsey
available from a Chilean sample, another study that as
and language use, as well as the relationships between
these aspects of the classroom context and students' sessed
vo Chilean kindergartners' language growth in low
and high-SES schools reported that students from
cabulary growth during kindergarten. This research
contributes to the field in two important ways. First, low-SES
it is families scored roughly one standard deviation
below their peers from high-SES families on vocabulary compared with instructional episodes in other topics,
(Pallante & Kim, 2013). In our analyses, children of such as science, social studies, and math (Bowne et al.,
mothers with less than a high school education had 2016). The rate at which teachers in our sample pro
smaller mean vocabulary scores at the end of prekin vided conceptual information during vocabulary epi
dergarten (a difference of 3 points, 0.6 SD of the raw sodes is similar to that found during book reading,
scores in this sample) and end-of-kindergarten vocabu content instruction, and small-group activities in a
lary scores 0.14 of a standard deviation lower than pre study of Head Start classrooms in the United States
dicted by their entering vocabulary scores, relative to (Dickinson et al., 2014), suggesting that these findings
children of mothers with a high school education or may not be unique to this sample. When teachers focus
more. These data suggest not only smaller vocabularies on teaching content, they can provide rich conceptual
for these children but also slower growth rates. This information, and this information plays an important
finding echoes those of B. Hart and Risley (1995) and role in supporting language development.
others (Fernald et al„ 2013; Paxson & Schady, 2007), One's vocabulary reflects one's knowledge about the
who identified growing gaps between young children of world; it is the concepts that children recognize, even
mothers with different levels of education. Although those that are only partly understood, to which children
the differences predicted by the provision of more con attach new words and new, more elaborated information
ceptual information may not close this vocabulary gap, (Harris, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2011; Nagy & Scott,
they could slow the rate at which children from lower 2000; Neuman & Dwyer, 2011; Wasik & Hindman, 2012).
SES backgrounds fall behind their peers. Also, it is the resulting deeper understanding of varied
words and concepts that supports later reading compre
hension (Proctor et al., 2012; Strasser & del Rio, 2014).
Conceptually Focused Instruction Although much of the current literature on vocabulary
These analyses showed that in Chilean classrooms, instruction has focused on how to leverage the rich lan
where whole-group instruction was common (covering guage found in storybooks and support explicit under
an hour, on average, of a three- to four-hour day), some standings of word meanings with largely declarative
teachers successfully facilitated discussions about a va information, our findings suggest that the conceptual
riety of interesting and, in many cases, fairly complex information that students gain about words and related
topics. Many teachers engaged students as active par concepts across the curriculum also provides an impor
ticipants in discussions in which they shared informa tant base on which vocabulary is built. These results sub
tion about topics such as the characteristics of stantiate arguments that vocabulary can be effectively
mammals, or geometric shapes, using words, pictures, taught when words are targeted from conceptually co
and physical examples to elaborate. On average, teach herent groups firmly grounded in curricular content
ers provided five pieces of information per minute of (Gonzalez et al., 2010; Neuman et al., 2011) and that math
vocabulary instruction about various concepts, al and science activities can provide good support for vo
though a wide range was observed in the total amount cabulary development (Peterson & French, 2008; Sarama
provided (between three and 198 pieces of information et al., 2012). Such approaches may be particularly impor
in a day), suggesting that some teachers provided very tant in contexts in which book reading is less common
little information. The more conceptual information than in U.S. classrooms. They stand as a reminder that
was available during these discussions, the greater stu children's knowledge bases are reflected in their language
dents' end-of-kindergarten vocabulary was, even when development, and careful attention to an interesting and
controlling for other school, teacher, and student varied curriculum is an important component of a high
characteristics. quality early childhood program.
Interestingly, despite the rich vocabulary support At the same time, it is important to note that some
provided, teachers in this sample may not have defined of the classrooms in this sample provided particularly
these aspects of their instruction as teaching vocabu rich concept-focused instruction during whole-group
lary. The conceptual information provided seemed to instruction, with rates as high as 12 new concepts a
reflect efforts to share information about concepts rele minute. It is possible that our coding system captured
vant to the teachers' pedagogical goals rather than to the richness of the conceptual information available in
teach particular word meanings. During these episodes, these particular classrooms, and language development
teachers did not rely on books to introduce words andwas driven as much by implicit encounters with these
communicate information; they tended to refer to pho concepts as by the explicit instructional episodes identi
tographs, drawings, objects, and explanations to intro fied. We do not know whether a similar relationship
duce the necessary ideas. In fact, another analysis found would be found in contexts that focus less attention on
that book-reading episodes were weaker sources ofsuch concept-focused instruction, such as those noted
conceptual information in these classrooms, when in other studies in the United States (Dickinson et al.,
2008; Wright & Neuman, 2014). Additionally, Dickinson Cristofaro & Tamis-LeMonda, 2012) and interactive
and his colleagues (2014) identified a constellation of small-group discussions of the ideas in books (Dickinson
language elements defining an academic register that & Tabors, 2001; Wasik & Bond, 2001; Whitehurst et al.,
may occur during content-focused instruction, which 1999), but the findings of this study suggest that engag
includes sophisticated and complex language, as well as ing young learners in whole-group discussions of ideas
conceptual information and talk about word meanings. can also be important. These findings are particularly
We may have identified just one important aspect of meaningful for contexts where there are fewer opportu
a larger group of language features typical during such nities for individual and small-group teacher-student
content-focused instruction that collectively support interaction and less access to and familiarity with the
language learning. We noted that neither the density learning opportunities provided by books.
nor the diversity of teachers' words showed a significant
relationship with students' outcomes, but we were not
Declarative Information About Words
able to consider the amount of sophisticated language,
In contrast to the amount of conceptual information
given an inability to find a word list in Spanish analo
about words made available, provision of declarative in
gous to the Dale-Chall list in English. Our findings
formation (i.e., word definitions, examples of word us
also considered conceptual information provided in all
age) was relatively infrequent across these classrooms.
instructional contexts, suggesting that the pure volume
We did not find a relationship between counts of de
of information provided regardless of the instructional
clarative word information and student vocabulary
contexts was important. Further work to understand
growth, despite the wealth of research suggesting that
the important aspects of this conceptually rich instruc
these techniques should be effective (Beck & McKeown,
tion will be important.
2007; Coyne et al., 2007; Neugebauer & Currie-Rubin,
2009; Penno et al., 2002; Silverman, 2007; Strasser et al.,
Student Conceptual Contributions 2013). The low frequency with which teachers used
These findings also highlight the important role that these practices may have limited our ability to identify a
young learners' contributions play in their vocabulary relationship with vocabulary. As a result, we cannot say
learning process. In this study, it was not the density or that these practices would be ineffective for Chilean
the diversity of student language elicited by teachers students, if provided in higher dosages. We can only
that predicted vocabulary but students' participation in note that when their use in this context was compared
discussions presenting lots of conceptual information with the other types of instruction that were more com
about a variety of concepts. Although teachers provided mon and more familiar to the teachers, these ap
more information (50 pieces on average to students' 30), proaches did not emerge as effective.
students were generally active participants. When stu
dent and teacher contributions were considered sepa Teacher Language
rately in an exploratory analysis, student contributions Our analysis of teacher language suggests that neither
of information continued to show a positive and signifi the density nor the diversity of teacher language were in
cant relationship with vocabulary growth, even when and of themselves effective supports for students' lan
controlling for students' language skills, whereas guage growth. This finding is interesting because much
teacher contributions did not. The high correlation be of the research in the United States considering teacher
tween teacher and student contributions of conceptual language has found that, at least for students with strong
information and the fact that students' contributions
vocabularies, the diversity and sophistication of adult
may reflect their own background knowledge, for which language is related to kindergarten vocabulary growth
we could not control, mean that these relationships can (Bowers & Vasilyeva, 2011; Dickinson & Porche, 2011).
not be interpreted causally. Our findings may be a consequence of the nature of
These results substantiate the theoretical perspectiveteacher-student interactions in these classrooms; teach
that children need to use words to take ownership of ers were addressing large groups of students, a context
them, and use them for their own purposes to scaffold that may have limited the scaffolding of language pro
deep understanding and skill in word use (Harris et al„ vided, thereby making the learning of new words
2011; Wilkinson & Silliman, 2000). By engaging in disthrough simple exposure more difficult for all students.
cussions, it is likely that students were both using the
language introduced by the teacher about the targeted
concepts and clarifying their own understanding of the
Limitations
concepts under discussion. Much of the literature on vo
cabulary development has focused on the importanceAlthough this study provides important information
of responsive conversations (Bond & Wasik, 2009;about the nature of vocabulary instruction in a sample
of Chilean kindergartens and identifies aspects of this through increasing student contributions to these dis
instruction that showed significant relationships to cussions and integrating informational books, may
students' vocabulary growth, there are some important provide a culturally responsive approach to improving
limitations to acknowledge. First, this is not an experi early childhood education quality in this particular
mental study of the impact of these different practices setting and cultural context. A content-rich curricu
on student outcomes. Although a variety of student-, lum and a thematic approach to instruction, in which
teacher-, and school-level controls were entered into concepts are explored through a variety of modalities
the models to most precisely isolate the relationships and types of activity, including story reading, have
between teacher practices and students' vocabulary, shown positive impacts on vocabulary in the United
causal inferences cannot be drawn from these find States (Neuman et al., 2011) and have the potential to
ings. At best, they are descriptive of this sample be particularly effective in the Chilean context be
and
provide a starting place for further, more systematic of their alignment with teachers' preferred
cause
testing of the approaches highlighted here as showing practices.
potential.
NOTES
Second, the data on which these analyses were based
all came from one day of videotaping in each classroom, This research was supported in part by Un Buen Comienzo
which was planned in advance. It is possible that these Fundacion Educacional Oportunidad, and the Harvard Graduat
School of Education. Yoshikawa's work on this article was partiall
tapes were not representative of these teachers' daily
supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi
practices due to adjustments made either to accommo Research Institute. Special thanks go to Felipe Torres Raposo,
date the presence of a camera and researchers in the Manuel Galvez Reyes, and Maya Titelman for their work on th
classroom or to present practices that the teachers felt transcription and coding of the videotapes. We also appreciate the
matched observers' expectations. This sampling frame comments that we received from Susana Mendive, Chris Weiland,
and Diana Leyva on earlier drafts of this manuscript.
may also have been too short to capture lower incidence
or more variable aspects of instruction if they did not
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comprehension and recall of kindergarten children. Reading Weiland, C., ... Arbour, M.C. (2015). Experimental impacts of a
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emergent literacy in a sample of Chilean children. Scientific Final revision received April 9, 2016
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senior research specialist at the Massachusetts Department of
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Quality of Chilean early childhood education from ancatherine_snow@gse.harvard.edu.
Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students' Vocabulary Growth in Kinderga
PPENDIX A
Examples of Coded Text
Text Code
Conceptual information
Episode 1
Student: The fable! Attention drawn to the word fable (through repetition)
Teacher: We are going to read a fable (holding ud a book). (c) Concrete information—object
Teacher: How do we know this is a fable?
Student: (indecipherable, all talking at once)
Teacher: It is a story that includes animals. (d) Information—fact
Student: There is a lesson in the book. (d) Information—fact
Teacher: Correct.
Teacher: This fable is called "The Two Friends and the Bear." (d) Information—example
Episode 2
Teacher: What do you call this (shows picture)? (c) Concrete information—picture
Student: A circle. Attention drawn to the word circle (with a question)
Teacher: Let's all make one in the air.
Students and teacher: (drawing a circle with a finger in (c)

theConcrete
air) information—action
Teacher: Does a circle have anv Doints?
Student: No! (d) Information—not true
Episode 3
Teacher: What is this (points to a slide with a picture of a fox)? (c) Concrete information—picture
Attention drawn to the word fox (with a question and
repetition)
Student: A fox! (d) Information—fact
Teacher: What does this animal look like?
Teacher: It's like a wolf. (d) Information—fact
Teacher: Do vou know what foxes eat?
Student: Meat! (d) Information—fact
Teacher: Yes, they are carnivores. (d) Information—fact
Teacher: How are foxes born?
Student: From their mother's belly. (d) Information—fact
Teacher: And they take milk from—
Student: Their mother! (d) Information—fact
Teacher: Yes, they are mammals! (d) Information—fact
(continued)
Examples of Coded Text (continued)
Text Code
Declarative information
Episode 1
Teacher: Today we are going to learn a new word, plead. Attention drawn to the word plead (focus of instruction)
Teacher: How do you say the new word?
Student: Plead!
Teacher: In the storv. it savs. "Don't eat me tiaer. pleaded (b) Usage example
Little Sambo."
Teacher: To Dlead is when vou ask for somethina with a lot of (a) Definition
feeling, hoping it will happen.
Teacher: For example, we pleaded to be allowed to ao to the (b) Usage example

party when we wanted to go very badly.
Teacher: To Dlead.
Teacher: Can vou aive me an example of a time vou pleaded?
Episode 2
Teacher: We are going to learn a new word.
Teacher: The word is soaked. Attention drawn to the word soaked (focus of instruction)
Teacher: In the story, here is the word soaked (points to(b)text

Usage
inexample
the book).
Teacher: I am going to give you an example.
Teacher: It was very hot, so I took a shower and let the cold (b) Usage example
water run all over me and aot soaked.
(b) water
Teacher: The other day, a moped passed me and splashed Usage example
from a puddle all over me and left me soaked.
(a) Definition
Teacher: These examples show that the word soaked means to
be very wet.
Episode 3
Teacher: We are aoina to talk about the riahts of children. Attention drawn to the word rights (focus of instruction)
Teacher: Let's remember which riahts we have learned about.
Teacher: What is important about the riahts of children?
Teacher: A riaht is a duty, something every child must have. (a) Definition
Note. Codes lettered (a) through (d) correspond to the coding categories described in the Coding the Nature of Vocabulary Instruction section of this
article.
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Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students'

Vocabulary Growth in Kindergarten

larly for developing countries with a history of low literacy levels.

8 ! Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

10 ! Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

12 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

14 I Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

16 i Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

Amount of vocabulary instruction

Total vocabulary time (minutes) 47 16.10 9.75 0.26 41.48

Number of words targeted 47 25.37 13.00 3.00 55.00

Nature of vocabulary instruction

Counts 47 79.98 53.58 3.00 198.00

Rate per minute 47 5.32 1.75 1.27 11.62

Counts 25 5.40 6.26 1.00 23.00

Rate per minute 25 0.33 0.32 0.02 1.08

Teacher and student contributions

Conceptual information—teacher 47 49.15 32.23 0.00 126.00

Conceptual information—students 47 30.83 25.12 3.00 96.00

Word density (tokens/minute)—teacher 47 63.12 12.20 27.54 84.23

Word diversity (types/minute)—teacher 47 12.28 2.25 5.76 18.70

Word density (tokens/minute)—students 47 14.04 3.76 6.00 22.56

Word diversity (types/minute)—students 47 4.08 1.03 2.21 6.52

End of prekindergarten vocabulary 664 22.07 5.09 6.00 36.00

End of kindergarten vocabulary 691 27.08 5.16 12.00 40.00

18 I Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

1. Total time of vocabulary instruction —

2. Number of words .57" —

4. Total declarative information .IT -.04 -.05 —

'p< .10. *p< .05. "*p < .00

Total time of vocabulary instruction -0.013 -0.055 -0.074' -0.065

(0.030) (0.050) (0.044) (0.045)

Number of words 0.057' 0.023

Total declarative information -0.022

Total conceptual information 0.086 0.110'

Total conceptual information—teacher 0.008

Total conceptual information—students 0.094'

Word density—teacher 0.043 0.027 0.036

(0.029) (0.030) (0.031)

Word diversity—teacher -0.021

Word density—students 0.063

Word diversity—students -0.069

End-of-prekindergarten vocabulary 0.715'" 0.712"' 0.717'" 0.717" 0.716'"

(0.027) (0.027) (0.028) (0.027) (0.027)

Comuna (municipality) 0.092 0.069 0.099' 0.079 0.071

(0.058) (0.061) (0.057) (0.057) (0.059)

Intervention -0.072 -0.026 -0.072 -0.027 -0.039

(0.053) (0.058) (0.053) (0.057) (0.058)

Male 0.071 0.073 0.073 0.073 0.080

(0.051) (0.051) (0.051) (0.051) (0.051)

Mother's education—percentage < high -0.158" -0.149" -0.136' -0.136' -0.135'

Home reading—once/week+ 0.104' 0.105' 0.102 0.105' 0.109'

(0.062) (0.061) (0.063) (0.061) (0.062)

Educadora (qualified teacher) experience

(0.025) (0.025) (0.027) (0.027) (0.028)

20 I Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

22 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

Beals, D.E. (1997). Sources of support for learning words in conve

24 | Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

Hong, S.-Y., & Diamond, K.E. (2012). Two approaches to teaching

26 I Reading Research Quarterly, 52(1)

Examples of Coded Text

Teacher: How do we know this is a fable?

'p< .10. p< .05. "p < .00